My receiver is a 2002 Panasonic SA-ZR45. For the past few years a crackling sound has penetrated the speakers. When I shut the receiver off the crackling gees away. Until recently. Now, the crackling is on all the time and I had to switch to the TV speakers, not too good. What could be the cause of he crackling, and how can it be fixed? Or, should I invest in a new receiver?Thanks.

Baggy, a more up-to-date receiver would probably be a good idea, but there's a possibility that this is simply the result of a dirty volume control. With the receiver turned off, run the volume control(if the unit does have a volume knob)rapidly up and down between the min and max settings at least a couple dozen times to see if this helps by cleaning it a bit.

I was thinking that too John. When I went searching for some info on roughly what year digital volume controls became more popular than analogue (prone to crackles,)I found this interesting statement in a short article discussing the pros and cons of both.

"A digital volume control has its own problems. Each 6dB reduction in volume from the maximum setting throws away one bit of resolution. A low volume setting (say, 30dB of attenuation) is equivalent to discarding five bits. If you had true 20-bit resolution in your D/A converter, you'd be listening to 15-bit audio instead of 20-bit. The lower the volume setting, the greater the loss in resolution. "

Anyone with better knowledge care to comment if this is still current and how relevant it is? Here is the link for reference purposes.